Local families create traditions with 'Elf on the Shelf' fun

The elf at Christina Leach's house in Hampton likes to play with household… (Courtesy of Christina Leach,…)

December 21, 2013|By Nicole Paitsel, npaitsel@dailypress.com

Elfie lands at our house the day after Thanksgiving.

This year, the 1-foot-tall elf came bearing advent calendars and a new Christmas story book as gifts. Every morning, my 5-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter race downstairs to see which spot the elf has chosen to land that morning. He is tired, of course, because he spent all night at the North Pole consulting with Santa Claus.

Some mornings "Elfie" — our family's name for the "Elf on the Shelf" — brings notes with "Elf duties" or acts of kindness to complete that day. Other days Elfie just attempts to amuse by making snow angels in a pile of spilled flour or by sipping syrup with a straw. He sometimes reads books, hides in the poinsettia and hangs from the kitchen chandelier.

This family tradition has gained ground in recent years, particularly among families with young children. Story book and elf sets have become a mainstay on big box store shelves, with children's Christmas movies, toys and other accessories complementing the trend.

According to the official "Elf on the Shelf" story by Carol V. Aebersold and Chanda A. Bell, each family receives an elf that watches little boys and girls during the day and reports their activities to Santa each night. He returns to the North Pole to stay on Christmas Eve. And, of utmost importance: You can't touch the elf or his Christmas magic will disappear.

Many mommy bloggers have devoted themselves to offering examples of where your elf may appear each morning. Depending on the year, that's at least 25 different — hopefully creative — poses.

The elf at Amy King's Williamsburg home sometimes forgets to move, she says — a problem many of our elves experience. In fact, there is a movement on social media channels advocating for slacker parents, ahem, elves.

To help your elf find some inspiration, here are some ideas from local families.

Steve

Jeremy Johns, of Newport News, and his two children, Noah, 7, and Haley, 6, have adopted their elf, "Steve," last year.

"Steve kept his distance and watchful eye on the kids last season," Johns says. "This season, Steve is much more comfortable with the kids and enjoys messing with them."

Every morning, Johns says, Steve has done something overnight to cause a large ruckus in the morning. Steve has built ships and trucks with Legos, driven Captain America's attack truck and Barbie's pink jeep, hung from the ceiling fan, and even cut out superhero capes from construction paper.

Noah and Haley particularly like it when Steve gets into the scotch tape and tapes crayons, toys and scraps of paper around the house.

"Noah even talks (and sometimes educates) Steve the elf on proper tape etiquette and what to do with leftover construction paper," Johns said.

Steve the Elf has also learned how to write and sometimes leaves notes apologizing for the antics of the previous night, including wrecking that pink Barbie jeep.

"My mom did something similar for Halloween in my pre-teen and teen years with a McNugget ghost figurine," Donne says. "We took turns hiding it in ridiculous places throughout October. We still laugh about it. The elf is silly fun for adults and a magical morning surprise for kids."

On one recent morning, Shy was found swinging trapeze style from the kitchen chandelier.

Jingle

Jingle, the elf at Christina Leach's Hampton house, sometimes makes messes, and other times he just finds a place to hide.

On particularly inspired days, Jingle gives a hint about a fun activity planned for the day.

"For example, in 2012, my son woke up to Jingle in the kitchen having taken out all of the materials needed to make cookies that day, and he'd already started his own batch," Leach said.

Some of her favorite scenes this year have been of Jingle building snowmen with marshmallows, playing a fishing game, building a puzzle, blowing up balloons, making S'mores and reading.

"This year, Jingle brought our book 'Advent' (a Christmas book to read each day until Christmas), and he'll be bringing a Christmas Eve box filled with new pajamas, a movie, a book, a snack and hot chocolate mix (pretty much a movie date in a box)," Leach says. "When Santa comes on Christmas Eve and Jingle leaves until next year, Jingle also leaves a small wrapped gift (a car, or small toy, $5 or less)."

"When we read the book and watched the movie we learned that she could not be touched. My daughter was heart broken by that so we went out and bought her the plush elf as well," Wall said.

Zoey also gets into some mischievous activities while Brianna is asleep, like toilet papering the Christmas tree and drinking syrup from the bottle. She has also taken a "bubble bath" in a bowl of marshmallows — elves seem to love marshmallows.